by Chris Braunlich
Unless Virginia voters reject the constitutional amendment on the ballot April 21, gerrymandering will return to Virginia.
Five years ago, 66% of Virginia voters — 2.8 million Virginians — approved a bipartisan redistricting constitutional amendment ending gerrymandering. The result was a map that is widely regarded as one of the fairest in the country. The new proposal, however, for which early voting is now taking place, restores gerrymandering, sending Virginia back down a slippery slope to the dark days of backroom deals.
The original โgerrymander,โ after all, doesnโt look all that more contorted than the new Seventh Congressional District proposed for Virginia. The accusation fits.
Opposed by The Washington Post and a majority of Virginians, ridiculed by former Democratic Senator Chap Petersen as โDestroying Democracy in order to save it,โ the new amendment was rushed into play, to be voted on in a special election when no one is paying attention, to replace something that works.
Although the Redistricting Commissionโs 2021 launch was uneven, the amendmentโs backup plan — a Special Master appointed by the courts — worked spectacularly โฆ so much so that the Princeton Gerrymandering Project rated the final outcome an โA.โ
